Meta given 30 days to cease using the name Threads by company that trademarked it 11 years ago::undefined
Eh, unlike some of the other pretty blatantly frivolous lawsuits we’ve seen lately (such as the google chrome cast one) this seems pretty legit. They had a globally recognized company called threads that worked in the software industry and meta had made multiple offers for their IP showing they knew about them and still went ahead. Seems clear cut and Meta will likely have to change the name.
It should be easy to rename as no one is using it.
But seriously, this is the kind of bullshit those monopolistic companies are doing all the time. Another infuriating one was with Google’s Go language. Author contacted them that he was using the name for 10 years and even had a book written about the language, but they basically just went with it anyway, because he was nobody and they were Google. Also, this is speculating, but I won’t believe when they came up with the name they didn’t use their Google to look the name up, probably that’s why they closed the issue so quickly.
What’s the chrome cast one?
It’s called patent troll.
They should call it Y.
I don’t know about UK trademark law, but I would imagine that, like with other countries, using a similar or identical name is okay, but only if you’re in a totally different industry. The original threads is also a messaging product, which doesn’t bode well for a lawsuit.
I imagine they thought they could just force a smaller company’s hand. Meta’s marketing, e-staff, and legal team are a bunch of corporate bullies.
Threads is a cloud-based intelligent message hub that captures, transcribes, and organizes all of a company’s digital messages, emails, and phone calls into one easily searchable database.
B2B is a completely different marketplace than B2C, and “internal search index of company’s digital messages” is a different industry than “social media app.”
The company’s own trademark registration indicates the trademark applies to “computer software, software and apparatus for the extraction of business information and knowledge.” That doesn’t sound like a social media app to me, either.
Both Threads are designed to strip-mine data from messages.
Zuck’s is just pretending it’s about something else.
If it’s all in writing you can’t just force another company to do what you want. What you can do is wriggle, twist and delay until it becomes too expensive for the smaller company to continue to pursue.
However judges are more than well aware of this technique and will allow the plaintiff to accrue costs against Legal Aid (paid for by government).
So what usually happens:
- Small co files against large co for using same name
- Large co produces huge response document which is all piss and wind
- Small co says they can’t afford the costs to answer each point
- Judge permits Small Co to use Legal Aid.
- Large co offers to settle. (E.g. you’re a 3 person sandwich shop. They offer you £10m. No more work, no more hassle)
If Small Co is energetic, young and courageous, they may choose to fight to the death. But Legal Aid has a limit…
It is too bad Meta couldn’t afford a lawyer to do a search for trademarks and copyrights. Really shame.
Did you even read the article??
It appears that Meta was aware of Threads before launching its platform of the same name. Company lawyers made four offers to purchase the domain ‘threads.app’ from Threads Software Ltd from April 2023, all of which were declined. Meta announced Threads in July 2023, the same time that the British company says it was removed from Facebook.
They literally made an offer to buy the domain Threads.app 4 times and got rejected.
It was sarcasm. Meta has lots of money.
And then figured they’d be fine if they deleted their Facebook account. If your Facebook account gets deleted you get deleted in real life, after all.
TIL Facebook follows Wes Craven rules
You think they were unaware?
They already planned for this. They’ll settle out of court. It’s pennies to them and a planned business expense, like a fine
Completely forgot Threads was even a thing.
So did everyone else lol
I don’t know which concerns me more: That Meta gets their asses kicked, or why the f-ck someone was able to trademark the word “Threads”.
You don’t trademark the word “threads”, you trademark it within the context of the industry you’re in
I can make a shop that sells pies and call it “Apple”
Well… Apple may come after your pie shop. You’ll likely win if you have the resources to fight it.
Monster Cable, they fight anyone who uses the word “monster” including mini golf places
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/98013289
Tldr, monster Cable is ran by shit humans who like to litigate.
Monster Energy Drink are also litigious assholes
https://gamerant.com/monster-energy-drink-indie-game-developer-lawsuit/
I’d like to see them fight each other in court. I think that would be interesting.
Your trademark is protected only in the field you’re in, but if you’re a widely known brand, and can prove it, you usually have some special protection, allowing you to prevent others from using it in all fields.
why litigate when you can just send pie
pipe bomb flavor
Someone was able to trademark the word “Apple”, so that’s not so surprising
Twice.
And when Apple violated the agreement they made with Apple Music not to enter each other’s industries (Apple Records couldn’t sell tech and Apple Computers couldn’t sell music), they successfully argued in court that iTunes wasn’t selling music, but digital downloads…
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I always thought it was funny while studying for my Cisco certification that their operating system was also called IOS. I had no idea there was actual drama behind it!
Which, for me, also falls under “why the heck was this legal at any time?”
Because unless you want every company to be a random Amazon brand or initialism, that’s how it kinda has to be, and it works fine until one company gains so much market share the word starts being associated with only them.
Think of like, Target or Shell. Both are huge companies, but their fields are narrow. You might confuse a Target named restaurant or pharmacy to be the Target, but probably not much more. And if it doesn’t have anything to do with oil or gas, it’s almost certainly not that Shell.Apple is just so huge I wouldn’t be surprised if at this point people think of iPhones while buying lunch. And even they started as “Apple Computers, inc”, because they wouldn’t have gotten just “Apple” if they had tried.
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Apple Corps
Gosh if only Meta hd money for lawyers, they could squish this like a bug. Oh, yeah. They do have money for lawyers. Tons of it.
Are you sure UK court allows it ? Because they filed in UK.
I don’t know anything about UK law but in my observations, giant corporations with tons of cash and armies of
lawyerssolicitors do what they want. I could be wrong but it is just my cynical view, not legal advice.UK has a fairer legal system overall, but Meta will delay, delay, delay to avoid accountability and keep using the Threads name for the next umpteen years, and at some point the original owner of the trademark will settle for a nice payday (though nothing like what they’d win if they beat Meta’s team of lawyers… which won’t happen).
UK has a fairer legal system overall,
What??? I suppose it depends on certain contexts, but I wouldn’t say overall. Super injuctions are a very obvious one. Also, just lack of constitutional protections.
Depressing that people treat money winning over justice as a given. There is realism, and then there’s defeatism.
There’s no love lost between me and Meta, but I’m just gon’ leave this here:
Your link doesn’t work for me. Is this the same?
https://nakamotoinstitute.org/static/docs/against-intellectual-monopoly.pdf
Yes
Does it actually talk about Trademark or is it just about Patents and Copyright? Despite all three being different types of IP, Trademark serves a different purpose them the other two. It’s essentially just about preventing Corporate Identity Theft. It’s why it’s only one that’s supposed to last forever.
Well can’t they just call it Meta Threads or Threads by Meta if it isn’t already, and nothing has to change.
Not an expert on trademark law, but I think “Threads by Meta” would not work as the main part of that name would still be “Threads”, “Meta Threads” could work, but if they’d make the “Meta” part not prominent in the branding then again it would probably be considered as only “Threads”.
That would be the sensible approach, but some executive is propably throwing tantrum because of their injured pride. I will be surprised if they just comply.
Fun fact: Google has to pay royalties to Windsor Castle since they had a Keep product first.
Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Games
They’ll be fine.
I’m sure Meta will either pay them out or bankrupt them in court.
I wonder if Posts is taken… lol Twitter switched to one letter. I kind of prefer the made up ethnically ambiguous names than the short ones.
I mean … could they just use Twitter since that’s not in use any more?
Elon still owns the Twitter trademark, and can sue if anyone tries to use it.
How about Xwitter?
Doesn’t Zuck the trademark to X, or was that just a joke going around?
Meta, Microsoft and literally dozens more, quite a few in fields that can already be argued overlap with Twitter and even more are going to keep popping up as Musk adds features to his “everything app”. His only defence is probably going to be arguing nobody should be able to own a single letter trademark which would be hilarious. And absolutely disasterous to him.
Not to be confused with the movie of the same name that, unlike Meta’s service, made me a miserable drunk
I’m sure Meta Legal knew and would deal with it when the time came.
Even the name Meta was trademarked by others and they paid a lot for the rights to use it
again? didnt they have to pay that woman who was regged as meta on insta aswell? like there is nothing at all original about marcs “ideas”.
New name: “Y”
